Charlottesville’s field hockey team has made huge strides this season a year after the team graduated more than 10 seniors, almost all of them playing big roles.
“We only had four or five varsity returning players so the inexperience was just crazy and to be able to come out of that dark place and be a competitive team and finish well in the district, I’m just so proud of them,” said Charlottesville coach Lindsey Larson.
A flick from Kettle Run’s Isabelle Rustom in overtime on a fastbreak ended that process at least for now as her goal early in 7v7 overtime lifted the Cougars to a 1-0 victory in the Conference 22 quarterfinals, knocking the Black Knights (6-10) who went to the state semifinals last year, out of the postseason.
“Tonight i felt like we were beat by a crazy good player (Rustom), she was outstanding and normally it’s the other way around,” Larson said, referring to former Black Knights star Kendall Ballard, who often provided those kind of goals.
Senior Lauren O’Toole struck a tremendous reverse hit toward Rustom on the decisive play, and Rustom took control, forced the Black Knights’ keeper to commit and then buried it in the back of the goal after a quick move to the right. Just like that, Kettle Run was headed to the conference semifinals.
“It was a reverse hit straight through the other two defenders and it was perfect in space,” Rustom said. “We’ve been practicing a lot of 1v1s for the past two weeks so I basically just pulled right and it worked out for us.”
It was Kettle Run’s fifth overtime game this season, and several of them, according to Rustom, have been long, grinding affairs.
“We started as a rebuilding team with our whole defensive line graduating…we’ve come so far,” Rustom said. “It’s just really satisfying when we win.”
For the Black Knights’ part, they’ve been locked in a number of 1-0 games this season, including a late regular season 1-0 victory over Monticello. Against Kettle Run, the Black Knights struggle to create chances in the first half, though in the second half they forced a handful of corners and put the pressure on the Cougars.
“I knew Kettle Run was going to be aggressive…it was going to be a tough fight,” Larson said. “I thought the girls handled it. We struggled with that aggression early in the season and we fought tonight.”
While the Black Knights came up short against Kettle Run, improvements like the squad’s response to aggression give Larson reason to think the coming years could be special.
“If this was a transition year, I can’t wait to see what this team can do,” Larson said.
Conference 22 field hockey roundup
Monticello fell 5-2 to Fauquier in another conference quarterfinal. Fauquier will now face Western Albemarle Tuesday night in the semifinals for the right to a regional berth after the Warriors shut out Culpeper 4-0. The Warriors travel to Fauquier for the semifinals at 6:30.
George Mason beat Liberty 3-0 in the fourth semifinal. They’ll face Kettle Run Tuesday night.
